Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of the most commonly asked questions about on-time shipments and correct billing, along with our answers. If you still have a question, please call us - or use the handy contact form to the right.-
Q: Will this affect my relationship with my carrier?A: If it does, it will be in a good way. Your carrier is a critical vendor and a key to your company’s success. You are an important customer of the carrier. Managing that relationship is necessary so that mutual benefit is achieved. A carrier’s ultimate goal is a satisfied shipper, and included in that satisfaction is on-time shipments and correct billing. When billing and delivery errors are brought to their attention they will give you better service, especially locally, and situations that cause billing errors will come to light. In the best case scenario, you may be able to make small changes that will stop the billing errors and your carrier invoices will become more accurate. Remember, the carriers are big companies think in terms of market share. They want to have your business and want to prevent you from from switching to their competitor. Also, understanding your shipping personality will enable you to operate more efficiently within the carrier networks, thereby decreasing costs on both sides.
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Q: How much money am I going to save?A: Typical savings range between 2% and 8%. However, there are a lot of factors involved, so it is difficult to predict your savings in a F.A.Q. The good news is that we know that we will save you money and we know that you will be happy. That’s why 1) we charge no fee unless we save you money and, 2) you do nothing to assist us and 3) we do not require a contract. You can cancel at any time.
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Q: What is Parcel Audit Partners’ fee?A: Actually, the only “cost” is unclaimed refunds. For the most comprehensive line item audit in the industry we charge on a contingency gain/share basis of refunds received as a result of our work. There are no other costs or fees. That means we provide our on-line 20/20 analytics free of charge!
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Q: When do we get invoiced and when does Parcel Audit Partners’ get paid?A: We invoice on a monthly basis for a contingency gain/share split once you receive carrier-verified credits on your carrier invoices. You verify that you have the refunds and then send us a check. Other projects are billed upon completion.
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Q: Do you do anything else? Negotiate contracts, consult, and provide reporting?A: Data capture and analysis is our business. The combination of this data analysis, capture and many years of industry knowledge enable us to provide customers with answers to all their carrier, freight and shipping questions.
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Q: Is there an extra charge for custom reporting?A: Yes.
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Q: What makes Parcel Audit Partners better than your competitors?A: We are a respected leader in the industry and have established a track record of success providing auditing and contracting services for scores of shippers across just about every industry. While many other companies believe that reviewing only 5 or 6 different shipment criteria is sufficient, we perform one of the most thorough reviews that today includes over 50 criteria.
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Q: Do the carriers hate you?A: Absolutely not! We are actually a benefit to them. They want you to be a satisfied customer and appreciate the opportunity to reconcile billing errors for their customers’ satisfaction.
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Q: How far back can we go to get invoices reconciled and credits due us adjusted?A: Up to 180 days depending upon the carrier and type of error.
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Q: What kind of files do need from the carrier?A: Setup for shipping data retrieval is simple, free and easy. We support many date types and will guide you every step of the way.
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Q: Do you work with paper invoices?A: No, we do not use them for auditing purposes; just for reference if needed.
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Q: Do you do GL coding?A: Yes. We have successfully mapped some of the most complicated GL coding schemes.
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Q: How soon can we get started?A: Today. Actually, for many billing adjustments we will be able to go back up to 180 days.
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Q: What do you need from us?A: We need an electronic copy your weekly carrier invoice. For UPS we will get copied on UPS’ billing email link or we require the user name and password to UPS.com where your weekly invoice files are received. For FedEx, we can obtain invoice files from their EDI department, the FedEx FTP site, or from FedEx Billing Online. FedEx allows for multiple invoicing options simultaneously. So, we will evaluate your situation and walk you through the easy setup.
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Q: Do we call in the refund opportunities or do you send us a file and we contact our carrier directly?A: We take pride in the fact that you do nothing to assist us. We handle the entire refund process on your behalf. From the recognition of overcharges to the reconciliation on your carrier invoices, we do all the work.
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Q: Do you check to make sure we are getting the correct discounts?A: Yes. Upon receipt of the carrier contract every customer has a rating script specifically made to address their individual carrier incentive discounts across all service levels.
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Q: Do you check dimensional weights?A: Yes. Evaluating dimensional weights is essential, especially for shippers with oversized packages. Please consult with us on your box sizes.
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Q: Do you check for contractual considerations? Rebate amounts?A: Yes. Specialized scripts for assessing your carrier revenue bands as well as other special contractual considerations are made specifically for you.
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Q: We use multiple carriers. Will you audit all of them?A: Yes. If it has a barcode we will audit it.
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Q: How soon can we expect to see invoice credits and adjustments?A: Once the audit process has begun shippers can expect to begin seeing credits within the first three weeks. After the first wave of refunds appear, you will see a time-line pattern develop.
Have any questions? We are here to help!
Give us a call at 401-737-5055
C’mon, see if you can stump us!